Gauahar Khan slams Kushal Tandon's joke, backs Zaid Darbar: ‘Not every ignorant thing needs a knee-jerk reaction’

Alliance: Kushal Tandon's comment referencing his ex, Gauahar Khan, in the show has sparked outrage on social media.

Actor Kushal Tandon and choreographer-content creator Zaid Darbar are currently contestants on Kunal Kemmu's reality show, Alliance. A clip from the show's latest episode has surfaced after Kushal made what many viewers interpreted as a tongue-in-cheek reference to his former relationship with Gauahar Khan while chatting with Zaid. Gauahar has now reacted to the same and given her stance through her Instagram account. (Also read: Gauahar Khan slams Nikhil Chinapa for creating rift between Zaid Darbar and Kushal Tandon: ‘Acting like a snake’)

Kushal Tandon's apparent joke on Gauahar Khan and Zaid Darbar's silence raised alarm.

What Gauahar said

Taking to her Instagram Stories, Gauahar shared a note which read, ‘The more secure you are, the less you take offence.’ She added in the caption, “Not every ignorant thing needs a knee-jerk reaction. The wise know to do better. Proud of you @zaid_darbar.” In another post, she praised Zaid's performance in Alliance and said, “Killer performance with 0 insecurities.”

Take a look:

Gauahar via Instagram Stories.

What was the joke?

While chatting with Mini Mathur in the gym area, Kushal claimed he had scored a big win over Zaid the previous night. When Mini asked him how, Zaid explained that he had asked Kushal for a cigarette because the ones he had were "bekar" (bad). In response, Kushal quipped, "Tujhe saali, saari meri cheezin pasand aati hai" ("You always like my things"), a remark that many viewers believed was a reference to Gauahar, whom Kushal had previously dated.

Mini appeared shocked by the comment, while Arslan Goni, who entered the show as Kushal's alliance partner, asked both Zaid and Kushal not to make such remarks on the show. Responding to him, Kushal said, "It's a joke."

Kushal and Gauahar met on Bigg Boss 7 in 2013 and fell in love. However, they broke up in 2014. In 2020, Gauahar got engaged to Zaid, and the couple married in December of the same year. They welcomed their first son, Zehaan, in 2023 and their second son in 2025.

About Alliance

Hosted by Kunal Kemmu, Alliance is a reality game show where loyalties shift overnight, and equations can change without warning. Last week, the show saw two exits. While Vanshaj Singh was eliminated by the alliances, Ravi Kishan took a voluntary exit to return to his duties as a parliamentarian. Replacing them, actor-filmmaker Sohail Khan, influencer Vriddhi Patwa and Agu Stanley Chiedozie joined the game. The reality show streams on Prime Video from Saturday to Thursday at 12 pm.